One Heck of a Weekend

This weekend was interesting all right. Friday night we went out to the Iron Hill Brewrey with good friends and their one-year-old. Auntie R and Uncle J got to occupy Miss M while her mom and dad tried to quickly get some food down during Oktoberfest at the IHB. Good food!

Next we went to Michael's craft store, followed by a run on Border's Bookstore. Thanks for the 20% off coupon Nate! I love bookstores. I could spend hours in them...in fact, I do!

Saturday was girlfriend time in the morning. I hit the Saucon Valley Promenade (Mall) with my sister-in-law Ruthie. Nice mall! Made a run on Barnes and Noble and got a Marshmallow Mocha (veerrrrrrry good) at Starbucks and picked up a copy of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. We had fun chatting and sitting in the sun on a little terrace during lunch and exploring cool little shops.

That night we came back to the mall with our husbands and took in "dinner and a movie" at Red Robin and The Rave movie theatre. It's a good deal, you pay about $30 a couple for food and movie ticket vouchers which you then turn into the theatre for tickets. You have to ask your server for the "dinner and a movie" promotion when you go to that Red Robin. It's right next to the movie theatre.

"The Kingdom" was a good flick. It's "R" rating is for violence. It was a good portrayl of tensions between the Saudis, their terrorists, and the USA.

Only one "bad" thing happened this weekend. On the way to the mall that Sat. morning, we can across a yearling buck that had just been hit by a car, and it wasn't dead yet. The people that had hit it had pulled over and it looked like they were waiting for the cops to show up to dispatch the poor little thing. It just stood their with a broken leg with blood pouring out of its mouth, wide-eyed and scared.

I wondered about the sovreignty of God in that situation. What possible meaning/lesson could we all take away from that ghastly scene? Interestingly enough, on Sunday morning during Sunday School, we were taught about pre-destination and the sovreignty of God and what the reformed church says about those topics. I didn't leave with many answers, and the questions remain. Perhaps we will get an answer next week when the class at church continues.

The Dawn of a New Season

It's the beginning of September and I just LOVE the fall. I've already seen my first wagonfull of pumpkins, can you believe it?! I just want to go find some leaves and rake them into a gigantic pile and jump in them and roll around! I also feel this tremendous urge to bake something...and eat chilli. Go figure!

The kiddies are back to school Sept. 4th, and that means making adjustments for school bus traffic in my morning commute. Mental note to self...must leave 10 minutes early for work from now on. So let's think positively! What do I have to look forward to this fall...

Two new classes at Eastern on Wed. nights...
Daylight savings time (lose an hour of sleep, argh....)
Fall festivals galore on the weekends... (WooHoo!)
A reunion with friends from back home at the end of September (friends I haven't seen together in years!)
Homecoming at Houghton in October (if we go)
Thanksgiving with friends (sometime this fall hopefully)
My niece's 2nd birthday celebration
Jeff's 31st birthday (Oct. 22nd for those who want to wish him a Happy Birthday)
and Bootcamp starts on Sept. 10th and I am excited. (Oohrah!)
Thanksgiving at Uncle Tom and Aunt Jenny's (dad, say you're coming!)

Anyone want to invite me over for a bondfire?
What is the fall bringing into your lives?

Different Strokes for Different Folks

To begin with a cliche...It never ceases to amaze me how...two people can look at something and see different sides of it. Like that group of blindfolded people who grope that elephant, feeling different parts of it and coming to various conclusions on what it is they are feeling.

My idea of a vacation has changed since I married a Schoonover. P.S. (pre-Schoonoverization) I was content with a book and a vacation by the lake, without too many activities to do. Now A.S. (after-Schoonoverization) I want a plan and an itinerary of activities in addition to down-time.

Through this vacation experience I have learned that going on vacation with small children is not relaxing at all. Everything you do revolves around them: where you will go, how long you can stay there, feeding times, when you have to be back from your activity so they can be back in time for their nap...Perhaps, I am not ready or cut-out for parenting.

People keep telling me, "Oh you'll be great parents!" But when you are a parent your whole life becomes your children and their needs and wants and trying to train their naturally selfish behavior. It's one long life-lesson in self-control.

You can't sleep in anymore. You can't go out to eat at nice restaurants. You have to save the money you would normally spend on other things, on the baby. Everything revolves around them and their short attention spans and their unnerving ability to be fully awake in less than a minute. They don't have any morning fog they need to conquer, not like adults. Their eyes open, and BLAM! they're awake.

Is there life during parenting? Help me my friends with kids...you're my only hope.

A Lone Sea Turtle Emerged

It's been our first official day of vacation and already, something amazing has happened. Right outside our beach house we found a protected sea turtle nest. A group of retired people comb the beaches every morning looking for turtle tracks and they find the turtle nests, stake them out, beach comb and mark a protected path to the sea and then they monitor the hatching of the eggs! These people are great! They go so far as to distribute tips and hot line numbers to beach residents...for example, on our fridge was posted a note when we arrived, "turn your lights out at night and if you have lights on inside, draw your drapes so that the turtles aren't confuse about which way to go when they hatch. Keep noise to a minimum because they won't come out if they are afraid of the noise etc. "paraphrased" The head turtle watchers even had these cool infrared pens they used to take brief glimpses at the nest, looking for hatching activity. Other curious people were outside with us and the "Turtle Patrol" as we watched for signs of movement from the nest.

Apparently, Friday night the nest hatched 102 babies. Tonight, just one hatchling made the journey across the beach in front of all those onlookers, to the mighty sea. We were instructed to stand back as the turtle entered the waves because he could get washed back in and people could step on him. They aren't much bigger than a sliver dollar. About 10% of the hatchlings survive the trip to the ocean grasses, three miles from shore, beneath the waves where they can find refuge from predators.

When the little one entered the water everyone clapped and quietly cheered. His perilous journey has only begun. Statistically speaking, only one in a thousand turtles survive into adulthood.

Vacation Anyone?

Where did you take your most restful vacation ever? Where did you go? What did you do? What did you see? What was your favorite part about it? I'd like to know.

Jeff and I are going on vacation at the end of the month to NC. We enjoy it. It's peaceful, there aren't a ton of people and I can wiggle my toes in the sand and take walks while listening to the birds and the waves. Jeff enjoys boogie boarding and casting his fishing net.

Where do you go to get away from it all?

Lord Of The Rings - Opening scene

Best movie opener ever...

Like a Little Child

Life was simpler living at home, being little. Under the umbrella of protection from Mom and Dad, we didn't have bills to pay, insurance premiums, or car payments, we just lived...sheltered from the ills of this world, like the murder count in Philadelphia on the news and late-night television in all its latent perversion.

Jesus seemed closer then. There were a lot fewer things in between us--me and Jesus. Fewer responsibilities, less stress, more time to think and reflect. No CSI, no scantily clad Victoria's Secret commercials, and adult novelty stores weren't on every corner.

Gay rights groups weren't rallying to make free speech a hate crime and weren't yet a political force. You could still buy a gallon of gas for under two dollars, and the Cosby show was actually on TV, not in syndication.

I enjoyed youth group, and driving to Perkins or Denny's for late night coffee or pancakes with friends, going over to Mamma Moodies house for cappucino and a chat. I went on short term missions trips, and life just seemed on the whole, more wholesome.

Now I have to worry about turning on the TV in my house. What images will come forth from its unholy depths?

Maybe there aren't more things, now struggling to get between Jesus and me, perhaps just different ones. The weight of adulthood is heavier than that of childhood or adolescence, and it begs the question: Is somebody out to get me? You bet.

It would be ignorance to think that the forces of evil could care less about "little ole me." Perhaps the full weight of the devil doesn't come to bare upon one suburban Philadelphian working at a small, Christian seminary, but I never doubt he wants me to fail at my Christian walk and that he constantly seeks to create stumbling blocks for me, no matter how small in the grand scheme of life. That's what his minions are for. Fortunately, I don't have to fear him or any of them, because of Jesus. Amen?

In the face of murder, despair, the loss of a loved one

In the face of inequity, prejudice, tragedy

In the face of fear, trapped miners underground in Utah:

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness,

I dare not trust the sweetest fame but wholly lean on Jesus name

On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand.

Boot Camp

Well...I'm gonna do it. I'm signing up for boot camp. I'm tired of being out of shape and fat so I've decided to enroll in an exercise program run by an ex-marine. OOOO-RAH! Check it out: http://www.drdrillinstructor.com/ His name is Dr. Aaron Oberst and he's a chiropracter. The name of the program is Preventative Health Boot Camp and it's a ten-week program, running in the fall-winter and spring-summer. You attend three times a week from 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. in Lansdale and soon in Hatfield. I'm very excited!

I've just gained so much weight being behind a desk and being back in school full-time. I've gotten lazy and lost self-discipline. I'm hoping that the team environment and exercising I'll get from boot camp will rekindle the flame inside of me to be the best I can be! Dang.

If I had the guts, I'd post before and after pictures. I hope he has an eating plan too.

Mom and Dad McKee

My parents are coming to visit us this weekend and I couldn't be more thrilled! Well, maybe I could...but I'm really excited!!!! Happiness is knowing that people love you and you love them back.

Humble Pie

Have you ever opened your mouth and inadvertently inserted your foot? Dang. That's what I did this week on my blog. I had an emotional outburst that could have done more damage than it did. I learned some new things and reinforced some oldies but goodies with this whole retraction process:


1. When emotions run high, reason goes right out the window.


2. Just because you feel something, doesn't mean you should immediately express it, ....in writing, .......to everyone you know.


3. Emotions come and go, but once expressed are hard to take back (like toothpaste out of the tube).

4. That good friends will tell you when you screw up.


5. That it's best to admit a mistake as soon as you realize you've made one.


6. It's good to ask forgiveness when it is appropriate to do so.


7. My sense of logic is consistently impeded by my emotions during hormone surges.


8. I still love my husband, even when we're having issues.


9. Two wrongs, don't make a right (they make a double negative instead!)


10. There are certain things about men and women that are specific to their gender.


I'm sure there are many more things I have learned if I think about it, but these were the ones that immediately came to mind.


Have a great day!